The Spring 2023 Manga Guide

Platinum Blood

What's It About? 

The vampire Alucard — nicknamed Al — was brought up in a church, at the side of the kindly priest Kaname. Now all grown up and drop-dead handsome, Al has certain needs...

The dutiful Kaname generously allows the vampire to drink of his body — and it isn't just his blood that Al's sucking! Still, physical needs aren't the same as emotional desires, and Al finds himself stuck trying to get the oblivious, straight-laced Kaname to realize that he means more than an easy meal to him.

Platinum Blood has story and art by Mor Ichigaya with English translation by Christine Dashiell and lettered by Vibrraant Publishing Studio. Tokyopop released its first volume both digitally and physically for $9.99 and $13.99 respectively on April 25.

Is It Worth Reading?

Rebecca Silverman

Rating:

Have you ever wanted to read an explicit BL manga about a Catholic priest and a vampire who prefers semen to blood? Good news! Platinum Blood exists. Before we go any further, it's worth noting that the creator of this manga mentions in the afterword that the story takes place in a parallel universe where the rules of religion are slightly different, which may not assuage all readers, but I like that it was something they considered. I also find it entertaining that only religion is mentioned as the parallel universe reasoning, implying that vampires and dhampirs are absolutely present in ours.

The more interesting piece is the lore for the bloodsuckers. In Platinum Blood's world, vampires can subsist on any bodily fluid they prefer; blood is just the easiest to obtain without noshing on live prey. Al, the romantic vampire lead, happens to have a preference for semen, specifically Father Kaname's. That's tied in with his love for the other man but also is overall safer, because as it turns out, the rules for turning someone are much simpler in this iteration of the vampire myth: two times, and that's it. Mor Ichigaya does have a scientific explanation for it that kind of holds up; it's frankly more interesting that they thought of one in the first place. It's primarily used as a way to discuss the fact that Al will long outlive Kaname, and it's the piece of the world-building that works the best in the single-volume story.

There's a nice story underneath all of the sex and plot wrangling. It does get lost in a confusing timeline, the uncomfortable fact that Kaname raised Al, and the desperate attempt to establish lore. But it's not a bad book (unless the Kaname-raised-Al thing is a deal-breaker). If you're looking for an M-rated BL that means business, this has you covered.

MrAJCosplay

Rating:

Platinum Blood is complicated. Then again, I'm not sure how you can't be complicated in telling a same-sex love story where one person is a priest and the other is a vampire that just happened to have been raised from a child into a young adult by said priest. Yeah, this story starts with a lot of choices that are very hard to stomach from the jump. Maybe some people can look past those things in order to get to the rather passionate and visceral sex scenes. But for me, this was definitely something that was harder to enjoy.

There is a strong chemistry here, and the sex scenes are probably some of the best out of the titles in this guide. There is also a solid attempt at creating a sort of tragic atmosphere, given the nature of vampires playing a vital role in the romantic progression of the narrative. However, it does feel like the series cheats a little bit by ignoring some of the more daunting elements that lie at the foundation of this relationship. The father/son dynamic between our two leads gets dropped relatively early on, to the point where it almost feels unnecessary. It doesn't feel like enough time is actually spent discussing some of the more life-altering occurrences that happen between these two.

That's a shame, because for all the great qualities of this series, everything around it doesn't really do it justice.